Less than one third of all private nursing homes in the north Dublin and former north eastern health board regions have had two nursing home inspections to date this year, new figures show.
With just weeks to go until the end of the year, some 49 out of a total of 69 nursing homes in the area still have to have second inspections. The Health Service Executive (HSE) is obliged under current legislation to inspect nursing homes twice a year.
Yet new figures released by the HSE show no homes in Meath or Dublin northwest have had second inspections in 2006 and just four out of 16 homes in Dublin north have had second inspections. They also show just two out of nine homes in Louth have had their required second inspections so far this year. Overall 20 out of 69 homes in the Dublin north and northeast regions have had second inspections to date this year.
Fergus O'Dowd, the Fine Gael TD for Louth, who has been raising concerns about standards of care in nursing homes for some time, said the fact that so many homes in his region had only been inspected once so far this year showed the area was not being given the priority it deserved.
"It proves that we have a totally inadequate and under-resourced inspectorate," he said.
If all the homes in the area were to have their required second inspection before the end of the year then inspectors would have to "fly" through them, he maintained. "I can't see inspectors being able to do the rest of them coming up to Christmas. I'd be very sceptical," he said.
However, a spokeswoman for the HSE said it planned to undertake all second inspections before the end of the year.
"We are fully confident that all those second inspections will be carried out before the end of the year. We have dedicated staff working on this and they are working full-time and throughout weekends to ensure that all the inspections are made," she said.